Over the last decade, malicious software has become a pervasive problem for Internet users as many networked resources include vulnerabilities that are subject to attack. For instance, over the past few years, more and more vulnerabilities are being discovered in software that is loaded onto endpoint devices present on the network, such as vulnerabilities within operating systems for example. These vulnerabilities may be exploited by a person allowing the person to gain access to one or more areas within the network not typically accessible. For example, a person may exploit a vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to email accounts and/or data files.
While some vulnerabilities continue to be addressed through software patches, prior to the release of such software patches, network devices will continue to be targeted for attack by exploits, namely malicious computer code that attempts to acquire sensitive information or adversely influence or attack normal operations of the network device or the entire enterprise network by taking advantage of a vulnerability in computer software.
Currently, a threat detection system observes suspicious or malicious exploits and presents the information regarding the exploits in a list format. While the list format may provide security personnel information directed to uncovered exploits or other detected malicious actions, it fails to identify any relationships between the exploits that would allow security personnel to better understand potential effects, both detected and undetected, caused by the malicious exploit.
In addition, current systems fail to generate reference models based on observed exploits, malicious behaviors, anomalous behaviors (e.g., deviating from typical or expected behavior) or the like for comparison against events observed at a later time.